Underweight women are at higher risk for early menopause

Takeaway

• Risk of experiencing early menopause is more than 2-folds higher in underweight vs normal weight women.
• Chances of late menopause is above 50% higher in overweight and obese women.

Why this matters

• Underweight women should be warned of early menopause risk, which is a risk factor for osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases.
• Obese women should be aware of association between higher BMI and late menopause, which is a risk factor for breast cancer.

Study design

• Pooled analysis of 11 prospective studies involving 24,196 women who experienced natural menopause after survey recruitment.
• Age at menopause was categorised into <45 years (early menopause), 45-51 years (reference) and 52-56 years and above (late menopause).
• Funding: Australian Government Department of Health.

Key results

• Mean age at menopause was 51.4 years.
• Risk for early menopause was more than 2-folds higher in underweight vs normal weight women (relative risk ratio, [RRR], 2.15; 95% CI, 1.50-3.06).
• Overweight (RRR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.31-1.77) and obese (RRR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.18-2.01) categories were associated with late menopause.
• Risk for menopause at age 52-53 and 54-55 years was 20% higher in overweight/obese women.

Limitations

• Residual confounding because of unmeasured confounders.
• Results not applicable to women <46 years age.